Sport shoe

ABSTRACT

A sport shoe which includes an upper, a sole affixed with the upper and including a bottom surface facing downward, and a plurality of protrusions affixed with the bottom surface of the sole. The bottom surface has a different height at an outer and an inner side of the sport shoe and is inclined along a transversal direction between the outer and inner side. The protrusions project downward from the bottom surface and have tips defining a common plane.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to sport shoes.

2. Description of the Related Art

Practice of sports such as golf or match crossbow typically require anaccurate movement of the upper body. To this end, the lower body needsto provide a stable support so as to facilitate the displacement of theupper body relative to the lower body. More particularly, in thepractice of golf, the placement of the two legs and the gripping of theshoes on the ground can have a significant impact on the control of theupper body's movement. Unfortunately, most sport shoes currentlyavailable on the market do not have a design that can facilitate theangular adjustment of the leg standing axis on the ground.

Therefore, there is a need for an improved sport shoe that can addressat least the foregoing issues.

SUMMARY

The present application describes a sport shoe. In one embodiment, thesport shoe includes an upper, a sole affixed with the upper andincluding a bottom surface facing downward, and a plurality ofprotrusions affixed with the bottom surface of the sole. The bottomsurface has a different height at an outer and an inner side of thesport shoe and is inclined along a transversal direction between theouter and inner side. The protrusions project downward from the bottomsurface and have tips defining a common plane.

In another embodiment, the sport shoe includes an upper, a sole affixedwith the upper and including a bottom surface facing downward, and aplurality of protrusions affixed with the bottom surface of the sole.The bottom surface has a different height at an outer and an inner sideof the sport shoe and is inclined between the outer and inner side, thesole having a thickness that is thicker near the outer side and thinnernear the inner side. The protrusions project downward from the bottomsurface, and have end tips defining a common plane that is substantiallyperpendicular to a standing axis of a wearer's leg.

At least one advantage of the sport shoe described herein includes theability to tilt the standing axis of a wearer's leg so as to provide amore stable support for the lower body.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 a schematic rear view illustrating an embodiment of a pair ofsport shoes;

FIG. 2 is a schematic bottom view of one sport shoe;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the sport shoe; and

FIG. 4 is a schematic view illustrating a configuration of use of thesport shoe.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 is a schematic rear view illustrating an embodiment of a pair ofsport shoes 100, FIG. 2 is a schematic bottom view of one sport shoe100, and FIG. 3 is a side view of the sport shoe 100. The sport shoe 100has an inner side 100A (i.e., corresponding to an inner side of thewearer's foot adjacent to the space between the two legs), an outer side100B (i.e., corresponding to an outer side of the wearer's foot), afront 100C (i.e., corresponding to the toes of the wearer's foot), and arear 100D (i.e., corresponding to the heel of the wearer's foot). Thesport shoe 100 can include an upper 102 and a sole 104.

The upper 102 can be sized to enclose an entire of length of a foot fromthe toes to the heel, and can have any desirable shape, design andcolor. Examples of material for making the upper 102 can include fabric,leather, plastics, etc. The sport shoe 100 may have a mechanism fortightening the upper 102 on a wearer's foot, e.g., comprised of a lace106 and a tongue 108. The tongue 108 can extend across a central openingof the upper 102, and the lace 106 can wrap across the tongue 108 totighten the upper 102.

The sole 104 is arranged at a lower side of the upper 102. The sole 104can extend from the front 100C to the rear 100D of the sport shoe 100 toprovide support over an entire area from the toes to the heel of thewearer's foot. The sole 104 can have an upper edge 104A, a bottomsurface 104B facing downward, and a plurality of protrusions 120. In oneembodiment, the sole 104 can be integrally formed in a single body. Theupper edge 104A of the sole 104 can be affixed with the upper 102, e.g.,by gluing, sewing, and the like. When a wearer stands upright (asschematically shown in FIG. 1), the wearer's leg (shown with phantomlines) can bear the weight of the wearer along a standing axis V thatextends along the leg and is substantially vertical. The bottom surface104B of the sole 104 is not perpendicular to the standing axis V, butinstead is inclined an angle along a transversal direction. Morespecifically, the bottom surface 104B is tilted such that it has adifferent height near the outer side 100B and the inner side 100A. Inone embodiment, the bottom surface 104B can transversally rise along aslope from the outer side 100B to the inner side 100A, and the sole 104can have a generally tapered shape that has a greater or thickerthickness at the outer side 100B and a smaller or thinner thickness atthe inner side 100A.

The protrusions 120 are affixed with the bottom surface 104B of the sole104, and can project downward from the bottom surface 104B. Theprotrusions 120 can act to prevent slipping of the sport shoe 100 on aground. In one embodiment, the protrusions 120 can be formed integrallywith the sole 104. In another embodiment, the protrusions 120 can beseparate elements attached to the bottom surface 104B of the sole 104,e.g., by screw engagement. The protrusions 120 can be distributed overan area of the bottom surface 104B between the inner side 100A, theouter side 100B, the front 100C and the rear 100D. It is worth notingthat the protrusions 120 are not limited in size and shape. Moreover,the protrusions 120 can be arranged according to any distributions onthe bottom surface 104B of the sole 104.

The protrusions 120 are arranged with a varying height “h” along atransversal direction extending from the outer side 100B to the innerside 100A, the height “h” being the distance from the tip of eachprotrusion 120 to the location where it connects with the bottom surface104B of the sole 104. In particular, the height “h” of the protrusions120 can increase along the transversal direction from the outer side100B to the inner side 100A of the sport shoe 100, and the tips of theprotrusions 120 can be in a common plane H. For example, as shown inFIG. 1, the height “h” of the protrusions 120A, 120B, 120C, 120D and120E distributed along a transversal direction on the bottom surface104B of the sole 104 can gradually increase from the outer side 100B tothe inner side 100A of the sport shoe 100, the protrusion 120A adjacentto the outer side 100B having a smallest height and the protrusion 120Eadjacent to the inner side 100A having a greatest height. In oneembodiment, an inclination angle I defined between the bottom surface104B of the sole 104 and the plane H can be equal to or smaller thanabout 15 degrees, i.e., the inclination angle I is between about 0 andabout 15 degrees. Referring to FIG. 3, the protrusions 120 distributedlengthwise along a same row from the front 100C to the rear 100D canhave a substantially similar height.

Referring again to FIG. 1, the common plane H defined by the tips of theprotrusions 120 is substantially perpendicular to the standing axis V ofthe user's leg. When the user stands upright on a relatively hard floorsurface (i.e., that does not easily subside), the plane H defined by thetips of the protrusions 120 can remain substantially parallel to thefloor surface, and the protrusions 120 can provide effective standingsupport. In other words, the tilted bottom surface 104B of the sole 104would not cause inclination of the standing axis V of the user's leg,which can remain substantially perpendicular to the floor surface.Accordingly, a user wearing the sport shoes 100 can stand and walknaturally on a hard floor surface outside a practice arena.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view illustrating another configuration of use ofthe sport shoe 100. When a user wearing the sport shoe 100 stands on arelatively soft or resilient floor surface G (e.g., grass surface) withthe two legs spaced apart from each other, the protrusions 120 can sinkinto the grass surface G, the protrusions 120 closer to the inner side100A sinking into the floor surface G with a greater depth, and theprotrusions 120 closer to the outer side 100B sinking into the floorsurface G with a smaller depth. Accordingly, the bottom surface 104B ofthe sole 104 can be substantially close or even entirely contact againstthe floor surface G. In this configuration, the sport shoe 100 can offeran inclined support, i.e., the standing axis V of the user's leg canincline toward the inner side 100A. The inward tilt angle J of thestanding axis V and the sport shoe 100 relative to a vertical axis canincrease support stability of the lower body on the floor surface,especially when some swing or rotation of the upper body needs to beperformed. The inward tilt angle J of the standing axis V can be equalto the inclination angle I of the bottom surface 104B when the bottomsurface 104B entirely contacts the floor surface G, and the inward tiltangle J can be smaller than the inclination angle I when the bottomsurface 104B does not entirely contact the floor surface G. Theinclination angle I of the bottom surface 104B can be set according to aheight of the wearer, which can determine a maximum tilt angle of thestanding axis V. With respect to the practice of certain sport, forexample golf, the inclined standing support as described previously ismore stable and allows performance of a more accurate displacement ofthe upper body, e.g., the upper body can swing or rotate relative to thelower body in a more accurate manner. It is worth noting that theapplication of the sport shoe 100 is not limited to the practice ofgolf, and may be suitable for any sport such as running, soccer, rugby,tennis, match crossbow, etc.

Because the conventional sport shoes are not adapted to provide aninclined support, a sport practitioner usually needs to use the legmuscles to place the legs in the correct position, which may causemuscle fatigue or even injury. The sport shoe described herein canprovide effective grip on a soft floor surface, and also assist a wearerto adjust and incline the leg standing axis, which can prevent fatigueand injury and overcome the aforementioned problems of the traditionalsport shoes.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the left and right sport shoes 100 can have asymmetrical construction. In alternate embodiments, the two sport shoes100 may have slightly different construction, e.g., the slope of thebottom surface 104B, the height variation of the protrusions 120 maydiffer between the left and right sport shoe 100.

Realization of the sport shoe has been described in the context ofparticular embodiments. These embodiments are meant to be illustrativeand not limiting. Many variations, modifications, additions, andimprovements are possible. These and other variations, modifications,additions, and improvements may fall within the scope of the inventionsas defined in the claims that follow.

What is claimed is:
 1. A sport shoe comprising: an upper; a sole affixedwith the upper and including a bottom surface facing downward, thebottom surface having a different height at an outer and an inner sideof the sport shoe and being inclined along a transversal directionbetween the outer and inner side; and a plurality of protrusions affixedwith the bottom surface of the sole, the protrusions projecting downwardfrom the bottom surface and having tips defining a common plane.
 2. Thesport shoe according to claim 1, wherein the bottom surface rise along aslope from the outer side toward the inner side, whereby the sole has athickness that is thicker near the outer side and thinner near the innerside.
 3. The sport shoe according to claim 1, wherein the plane definedby the tips of the protrusions is substantially perpendicular to astanding axis of a user's leg.
 4. The sport shoe according to claim 1,wherein the protrusions have a height that gradually increases from theouter side toward the inner side of the sport shoe.
 5. The sport shoeaccording to claim 4, wherein an angle between the bottom surface of thesole and the plane defined by the tips of the protrusions is equal orless than 15 degrees.
 6. The sport shoe according to claim 1, whereinthe protrusions are formed integrally with the sole, or fastened withthe sole.
 7. A sport shoe comprising: an upper; a sole affixed with theupper and including a bottom surface facing downward, the bottom surfacehaving a different height at an outer and an inner side of the sportshoe and being inclined between the outer and inner side, the solehaving a thickness that is thicker near the outer side and thinner nearthe inner side; and a plurality of protrusions affixed with the bottomsurface of the sole, the protrusions projecting downward from the bottomsurface and having end tips defining a common plane that issubstantially perpendicular to a standing axis of a user's leg.
 8. Thesport shoe according to claim 7, wherein the protrusions have a heightthat gradually increases from the outer side toward the inner side ofthe sport shoe.
 9. The sport shoe according to claim 7, wherein an anglebetween the bottom surface of the sole and the plane commonly defined bythe tips of the protrusions is equal or less than 15 degrees.
 10. Thesport shoe according to claim 7, wherein the protrusions are formedintegrally with the sole, or fastened with the sole.